The ability to opt out of ads changed the advertising game and set the stage for a new era of branded streaming content—here’s why. The rise of new digital technologies that let audiences ixnay the ads—from DVRs to cable networks and then the internet—made it infinitely more challenging for brands to buy fame (aka get ROI from their paid TV advertising). Getting a brand noticed meant competing in the same arena as the entertainment companies—which meant that brands had to up the ante.

According to Harvard Business Review, “BMW pioneered the practice of creating short films for the internet. Soon corporations were hiring top film directors (Michael Bay, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson, David Lynch) and pushing for ever-more-spectacular special effects and production values.” These nascent digital efforts led brands to believe that delivering Hollywood-level entertainment content at the speed of the internet would garner huge, engaged audiences around their brands. “Thus was born the great push toward branded content.”

A Brief History of the Golden Bull 

Red Bull is hands-down one of the most acclaimed branded-content success stories—they transcended being a single-product energy drink company into a world-renowned multihyphenate brand with a particular focus on extreme and alternative sports—we’re talking TV, YouTube channel, magazine publications, radio, live events, and high-end documentary films. They’re doing it ALL.

Dietrich Mateschitz founded Red Bull in the mid-1980s, taking inspiration from functional energy drinks he discovered in East Asia. The launch of Red Bull heralded the birth of a whole new drinks category—today, Red Bull has the largest market share of any energy drink product in the world and sold 11.58 billion cans in 2022. Welcome to the world of Red Bull!

Red Bull found their customers and audience early in the game—in 1988, they sponsored their first-ever sporting event, “The Red Bull Dolomitenmann,” known as one of the most challenging relay races in the world. And through that, discovered that extreme sports are fueled by adrenaline, and that adrenaline could be fueled by (cue drum roll)…Red Bull. They leveraged this first success into an empire built on branded content, which catapulted their brand into the stratosphere. And now, others are looking to replicate their success with their take on the branded content streaming game.

Enterprise Giant Enters the Streaming Branded Content Space

Sales enterprise software juggernaut Salesforce has just stepped into the branded content game in a big way with Salesforce+. The pandemic shifted the media landscape and how people consume content. The days of white papers in B2B settings had lost luster—it was time to pivot.

When asked how the idea to enter the branded content game arose, Colin Fleming, Salesforce’s Senior Vice President of Global Brand Marketing, shared that “…people watching Disney+, the people watching ESPN+, are the same people watching Salesforce content in a business setting, so why wouldn’t we follow that sort of direction? That’s really the genesis of this idea.” Salesforce’s goal was to provide opportunities for professionals to hear and learn from inspirational trailblazers in their field—and that people at multiple levels could have targeted content that would speak to where they are on their career journey.

Salesforce already amassed a library of original content, like Leading Through Change, The Inflection Point, and Connections; Salesforce execs took a long hard look at successes and viewer behavior before deciding to greenlight Salesforce+, their upstart, branded content strategy.

When asked who Salesforce+ is for, Fleming replied, “You’re going to see content within Salesforce about individuals that have gone from hairdresser to senior vice president; some incredibly impactful stories we think are really critical for us. You’re just going to hear people tell their authentic stories.”

FORTUNE Favors the Brave

FORTUNE decided to leverage its best-in-class business acumen and storytelling prowess by founding FORTUNE Brand Studio, dedicated to telling authentic, insights-led brand stories to influential global business audiences—focusing on streaming video, digital, and social. Their mission? To help brands make their business better by crafting purpose-driven content—tailored to their audiences—that’s delivered the right way. FORTUNE Brand Studio has fueled many businesses’ entrees into the streaming branded content space, working with Salesforce+, PayPal, Target, Boston Consulting Group, and more.

In partnership with Salesforce+, they produced a series called The Ecopreneurs, a docuseries in which the production team traveled worldwide to profile pioneering entrepreneurs leading the charge on climate action. Within the first month, the premiere episode had amassed over 3.3 million views on YouTube alone. The idea? Drive engaged audiences to the Salesforce+ platform, where there are long-form articles on climate issues, animated infographics detailing data and insights, and exclusive interviews with ecopreneurs highlighting the mission behind their companies.

With PayPal, FORTUNE Brand Studio produced a two-time Anthem Award-winning video focused on the company’s actions to close the racial wealth gap, where PayPal CEO, Dan Schulman, talks about PayPal’s commitment to creating structural changes to effectively fight racial inequality with the company’s partners, Samara Hernandez (founding partner of Chingona Ventures) and Bill Bynum (CEO of Hope Credit Union).

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Bottomline

Brands succeed when they break through culturally and generate cultural relevance. Digital media and technology have given rise not only to influential social networks—they have radically transformed how culture works. If you are looking to maximize your impact and ROI with branded streaming projects, having the right team can help ensure success. Creative Circle can provide streaming content specialists that can help your content reach more people and get maximum results.

About the author.

An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist—Karina writes, produces, and edits compelling content across multiple platforms—including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Yahoo News, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties and has spanned insight pieces on psychedelic toad medicine to forecasting the future of work to why sustainability needs to become more sustainable.

Hollywood is in flux. Once upon a time, movie stars themselves were the franchise or brand, but those days have softened away. With audiences less willing to seek out original films and newer adaptations, studios are leveraging nostalgia-hued intellectual property, packaged with robust co-branded collabs to craft movies and products that can sing soprano at the box office and cash register—and toys are leading the way.

This summer, it was almost impossible not to notice the hot pink posters signaling the release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie. The film is the Mattel doll’s live-action film debut and, coupled with the dizzying number of brand collaborations, captured the cultural zeitgeist as people of all ages rushed to post their best Barbie-inspired outfits on their social channels—TikTok videos featuring #barbiecore have had nearly 1 billion views.

In the history of Hollywood, 29 people have had the sole directing credit on a billion-dollar movie—28 men and one woman: Greta Gerwig. Barbie has made about $1.36 billion to date—the top-selling movie in Warner Bros.’s 100-year history, and the buzz that surrounded the film is no coincidence. Mattel’s Barbie division has spent nearly $100m on marketing this year, marking a major transformation of the company from a toymaker to an intellectual property-driven organization. The promotional Barbie buzz began over a year ago when an official image of Margot Robbie (the star of Barbie) was released by Warner Bros. at CinemaCon in April 2022, igniting the phenomenon that hit fever-pitch this summer.

From Pinkberry to PlayStation—brand collaborations gone wild

To promote the Barbie movie, Mattel partnered with over 100 brands and retailers on collaborations that span beauty, fast fashion, food, homewares, and more. And while brand collabs are nothing new, there’s something about the sheer number and zeal of Barbie-branded collabs that dropped this summer that is something to behold. Collaborations have been gaining popularity among brands as a way to access new customer bases, but now, there is a growing synergy for franchises, as well.

#Barbiecore began to gain momentum months before there was even a live-action trailer teaser and was bolstered in large part by brands pushing their Barbie collabs. From PlayStation controllers to sweet treats by Pinkberry to fast fashion collabs with Zara, GAP, Forever 21, and more, companies lined up to officially hitch their brands to Barbie, and in doing so, helped fuel the Barbie-fever that took the world by storm this summer—and is a look at how movies, merchandise, and brands are becoming entwining their fates.

Discoverability has become more fluid

Entertainment companies are looking to Mattel’s success in leveraging its IP with the Barbie movie, and the consensus is that leveraging branded consumer product collaboration is the key to fueling a sense of tribal fandom to keep consumers coming back for more. Historically, entertainment marketers saw franchise discovery as being more linear than they do today.

Once, the customer journey primarily began with a film’s release, continuing via in-home entertainment, followed by branded consumer products and (if successful) holiday sales. But today, franchise discovery is more fluid—with 68% of licensed product shoppers likely to purchase a product featuring IP in anticipation of a movie or series release and 78% likely to buy after watching the release, according to a 2022 Kantar and Amazon Ads study.

Consumer products are helping grow long-term fandoms and moneymaking opportunities by giving them multiple ways to engage with brands. “Consumers want more of the things they love,” Brian Robbins, the president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, shared at a recent investor conference. “They want to see the movie, watch the show, read the book, wear the pajamas, use the toothpaste, ride the ride.” And some will buy the jammies before they see the flick. Welcome to the future.

It’s no secret that translating TV and movies into merch is a BIG business. Significant monetization from consumer products comes hand-in-hand with franchise development and helps establish a more long-lasting relationship, which is more lucrative for all involved. Retail sales of Disney’s licensed consumer products hit an estimated $56.2 billion in 2021, according to an estimate from License Global, while Warner Media and Warner Bros. made an estimated $15 billion—and streaming companies are moving in for their slice of the pie.

Streaming services are also muscling in on the action. Netflix and Hulu have debuted branded merch shops, and retailers like Walmart and Target are selling products tied to Netflix shows like Stranger Things. The days of sitting and waiting for a show to be successful are gone. Branded products give consumers multiple ways to engage with brands and help grow loyalty to the franchise.

Today’s media landscape has become more exciting than ever for fans. They can now engage with characters and stories beyond the traditional mediums of film and TV via podcasts, video games, in-person experiences, and more. The companies leading the charge are leveraging the power of fandom to drive engagement (and profit). If you’re looking to up your creative pitching game, reach out to us at Creative Circle—we’ll get you hitting home runs in no time soon.

About the author.

An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist—Karina writes, produces, and edits compelling content across multiple platforms—including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Yahoo News, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties and has spanned insight pieces on psychedelic toad medicine to forecasting the future of work to why sustainability needs to become more sustainable.

It feels like over the last year, the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning has exploded. AI and its impact has become the topic of so many discussions, from the role of AI in processing data and even diagnosing diseases in healthcare to playing a role in the historic writers strike still taking place. Our approaches to AI are often filled with apprehension—particularly when it comes to data, privacy, and creative ownership—but the fact of the matter is AI is here to stay and already plays a huge role in our day-to-day lives. AI is behind all those suggestions of videos you might like on social media. “Smart” products are constantly learning our behaviors to make our lives more comfortable. If you use face recognition to unlock your phone, that’s AI too.

AI will only continue to play a big role across industries, and the beauty industry is perfectly primed for an AI takeover. Before we nerd out over our new robot overlords, let’s note just how massive the beauty industry is. Beauty (which is broken down into makeup, skincare, hair care, and fragrance) is set to generate $580 billion by 2027 and AI within the beauty industry is already worth billions. Beauty’s hold on consumers is so bankable that, according to an anecdotal theory called the Lipstick Effect, in times of economic downturn, women and folks who typically purchase makeup will still spend money on small luxury cosmetics rather than other more expensive purchases.

E-commerce is now the fastest-growing channel in the beauty industry, making up over a fifth of the market and steadily rising. The market is more competitive than ever with the huge increase of smaller, direct-to-consumer business owners alike, but a lot of customers are satisfied with the makeup they have access to. According to a 2019 Ipsos survey, via Forbes, 80% of respondents agreed with the statement “My personal beauty and grooming needs are met by products I can buy today,” and 55% of respondents would rather stick to a brand they know over a new one they haven’t tried. But in light of the impact of social media and e-commerce’s rise, behaviors have shifted. A StyleSeat poll of 1000 respondents found that 89% of TikTok users surveyed, purchased a beauty product after seeing it on the app—despite the fact that 76% of all social media users surveyed don’t believe product recommendations from influencers are genuine.

So you have your giant legacy brands holding their ground. And you have a lot of up-and-coming small direct-to-consumer brands breaking in and finding their audiences to varying degrees of success. And AI is about to be a huge game changer for everyone across the board if they understand how to leverage it correctly.

Ease the process from heart to cart

AI at its best is all about overcoming consumer pain points in a thoughtful and engaging way. Shopping for beauty products can be complicated and overwhelming for customers; with a myriad of skin trends and endless information about ingredients used in the product, it can be a real art to engage a customer, understand their needs, inform them of a solution without overwhelming them, and make the sale. Other common pain points for beauty consumers include not having enough associates to help with in-person consulting and stock running low.

AI has the potential to convert these moments that might make a consumer give up into positive experiences. Behind the scenes, AI can help forecast demand and understand supply chain issues to ensure your product stock is stable and consistent. When it comes to direct interactions with customers online or even in person, having virtual assistants that can answer questions, make recommendations, and successfully troubleshoot with customers will make all the difference in maintaining customer engagement and loyalty.

Personalize personalize personalize

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been 6 years since Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty, successfully providing a wide and actually inclusive range of foundation shades to match every skin tone and proving once and for all that not only does everyone deserve to have makeup that works for them, but that you can make a couple of billion dollars off that reality.

At the heart of that spirit of inclusivity is personalization, ensuring that consumers can have a product that makes them feel like “This is for me.” In the same way that customers’ #1 goal with retail is finding the “right fit,” a top goal for beauty is helping consumers find exactly what works for them. Consumers know what they need and know what they like, and want to make those well-informed choices for themselves, and AI is an excellent tool in facilitating this. AI can be used to provide personalized and informative beauty suggestions, taking the customer’s skin type and tone, sustainability preferences, skincare and makeup regimen, and style into account. This can be done through diagnostic quizzes, or analyzing selfies to identify skin type and face shape.

For example, Shiseido’s groundbreaking products like the Skin Visualizer which measures “radiance, resilience and suppleness, and fine skin texture and smoothness of the skin” and Makeup Advisor allows customers to get an in-depth analysis of their skin and face, share what kind of beauty outcomes they’d like to have, and receive an extremely personalized menu of suggested beauty products.

Having personal and unique suggestions can result in a huge return on interest, upwards of 1500% according to ERM, a personalization software for retailers.

Try before you buy

Despite e-commerce being a huge part of the beauty industry, nothing can really replace going into a store to try on a product, whether it’s seeing how a certain moisturizer sits on the skin or trying to see which shade of plum actually works with your complexion. While AI may not (currently) be able to let you feel firsthand just how well a cream absorbs into your skin, it can definitely help you see what certain makeup products look like on your face. Companies like Sephora, Maybelline, L’Oreal and more are banking on virtual makeup try-on services. Having tech that allows customers to virtually “try on” products whether it’s makeup or different hair colors and styles engages customers in a fun and genuinely informative way, and can even help us overcome our own biases regarding beauty.

AI and equity

AI is fast becoming an essential tool in all aspects of our lives and is already playing a major role in the beauty industry. But it is far from perfect. AI does reflect biases embedded in the data it’s working with and this has unfortunate results, particularly when it comes to race. Facial recognition technology has been criticized for not accurately picking up on darker skin tones, and certain technologies have been found to perform better on men than women (a reflection of the lack of diversity in who is designing and creating these AI products). While these issues are being addressed, it’s important to be mindful of these realities and experiences and ensure that the AI being used is accessible to all consumers. Part of AI’s strengths is in providing nonjudgmental interactions and suggestions to customers based solely on data, so as to not perpetuate the limited beauty standards and judgmental exchanges that have kept customers from going into stores.

It’s of utmost importance that the technology being used can actually ensure that kind of equitable inclusivity, but once properly deployed and leveraged, AI will be essential to creating an experience that earns customer loyalty, and the possibilities will only expand from there.

About the author. 
Sam Mani writes about work, creativity, wellness, and equity — when she’s not cooking, binging television, or annoying her cat. 

It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has irrevocably changed almost every aspect of our lives. Even as mask mandates are lifted, and many people are trying to regain a sense of normalcy approximating what life was like before February 2020, there are certain shifts that the pandemic brought on that are here to stay. Our relationship with work, whether it was the forced flexibility of working remotely or the widespread exhaustion of working through a global crisis, was deeply impacted. Our relationships with mental health became a much bigger part of everyday conversation, than ever before. And of course, our relationship with shopping underwent massive changes that are still playing out today. We are fundamentally different consumers than who we were in 2020, and retail will never be the same, and there are a few important things retailers should keep in mind as they continue to navigate the landscape of shifting consumer needs and trends.

Before we jump in, however, it should be noted that COVID-19 was not singlehandedly responsible for the huge shift in retail. Sure, the obliteration of in-person shopping for months played a role, but the pandemic arrived in the middle of the ongoing “retail apocalypse.” Big box brick-and-mortar stores like Sears, Toys “R” Us, and Forever 21 had all declared bankruptcy in the years before the pandemic. E-commerce had already been on a steady rise and consumers generally had less disposable income to spend in light of stagnant wages and rising living costs (and started to shift their spending to focus more on experiences like dining than retail). But COVID was the final straw.

Out: Big boxes, kind of

Insider recently reported that major retailers are planning to close over 2,300 stores across the US in 2023 for various reasons. While stores like Bed Bath & Beyond are shuttering due to bankruptcy, other big retailers are shutting certain large locations and opening newer, smaller locations. Malls are seeing a huge exodus in light of the declining foot traffic, with institutions like Bath & Body Works and Footlocker closing their in-mall locations in favor of standalone stores. Even Best Buy is shuttering locations to build smaller, outlet locations to suit consumer needs, namely consumers cutting down on purchasing new electronic items.
It’s important to keep in mind that BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in store) remains a regular part of the consumer experience and self-checkout is on the rise. On top of that, for certain big box stores, adapting to the volume of e-commerce has changed the fundamental function of the physical store. Namely, as Insider points out, big-name shops like Ulta, Walmart, and Macy’s have started to become their fulfillment centers, especially when it comes to the thorny business of returns.

Big box stores operated on the principle of “one size fits all,” providing a giant space for any consumer to get (and/or stumble upon) something that they want. But consumers have gotten savvier, trading in aimless strolling for aimless scrolling, and looking for more of a personal experience when shopping in person. Big box stores are trading in the big box for something more personalized that meets consumers where they’re at physically (literally, by opening locations in underserved neighborhoods) and financially (Nordstrom added new locations of their discounted Rack store this year and Dollar General and Family Dollar are two of the top retailers opening more locations). Smaller locations allow for the big retailers to become a bit more agile, a huge benefit smaller retailers can take advantage of.

In: Unique in-person shopping

The pandemic put a huge damper on in-person shopping, and consumers still take advantage of contactless pick-up when it comes to shopping, but consumers are back to in-person shopping at large. If the shift in big box stores indicates anything, it’s that people are shopping in person now more than ever, but they are wanting more out of it. Consumers want things personalized. With so many options to choose from, they want to feel like their clothes, their electronics, and their household goods were made for them. And because we can always just add what we want to a cart online, improving the in-person shopping experience in a way that works together with the online experience while elevating that personal connection is a must. Whether retailers are shifting their focus on more “values-based” consumers or deploying AI to create a more unique experience, it’s all about transforming “running to the store to grab something” into a more engaging and intentional experience—depending on the situation.

It may seem contradictory, but big box stores being transformed into hybrid fulfillment centers that are not focused on customer service, while also trading in huge warehouse-style locations for smaller venues that invite customer-service-heavy interactions are part of the same overall strategy of meeting mass demands while also curating a more personal shopping experience while bridging the gap between online and offline shopping.

Out: Influencers

For the last nearly ten years, it seemed like the number one advice given to retailers to improve their brand’s reach was to launch an influencer campaign. After all, they’re called influencers for a reason; they’ve gained the admiration of their followers and have a real impact when it comes to endorsing products and brands. Even nano- or micro-influencers, who may not have millions of followers, can be a real asset as their followers can be more engaged than those passively following bigger celebrity influencers.

However, over the years the influencer market has also seen a shift in the relationship between influencers and their followers. A recent study found influencers might not have the trust they used to 81% of respondents said: “a brand’s use of influencers has either no impact or a negative impact on their perception of that brand.” 62% of respondents had never purchased a product based on an influencer’s endorsement.

It certainly hasn’t helped that there has been a recent smattering of high-profile influencer controversies, from the infamous Shein brand trip—that saw several influencers’ reputations ruined after taking a Shein-paid trip to the company’s “innovation center” and defending the company’s business and labor practices despite multiple investigations detailing heinous labor violations—to the mess that is the Tarte brand trips. Influencers are still a powerful ally for brand promotion, but (perhaps by nature of social media’s transparency and overexposure during stay-at-home orders) the industry has lost authenticity, and with it, consumer trust.

In: Community

One thing that the pandemic impacted the most was our sense of community. Being isolated from one another was painful in many ways and led to new and exciting ways to build connections online. Many people are returning to making those connections in-person again, but the need for the community remains in us in other ways too, especially as consumers.

The most important part of maintaining a strong consumer base is maintaining trust, and that takes time, care, expertise, and community. Getting a solid recommendation for an eyeliner from a friend can carry just as much weight as a celebrity endorsement. According to a study, nearly 90% of respondents trust the suggestions and recommendations of their friends and people they know over influencers because there is real trust there. It’s not necessarily about getting in on a trend but using something that works.

Personally, I’ve taken maybe 16 different quizzes to tell me my skin type and have had an algorithm make several product recommendations based on that, but going into a store and talking to someone about the products (and trying them out) is what actually sticks with me and makes me purchase products.

Retailers can make the most of this dynamic with their in-person shopping experiences, and many are, as independent retail has really seen a boom since the pandemic. As Max Rhodes at Fast Company writes, “Small shop owners create magical experiences that closely connect them to their communities. They bring back the “ah-ha” moment of discovery that was lost in the optimization of commerce.”

Having someone on the ground who is knowledgeable enough about products and able to understand what a customer actually wants to make a personal recommendation is the kind of intimate, bespoke, and cherished experience consumers desire. And it helps retailers solidify their place as part of the community that keeps customers coming back.

A Raydiant survey found that “61% of consumers are likely to spend more at a location – and 90% said they are likely to return to that store – if they have a positive in-store experience.” The opportunity for customer retention is huge, especially compared to online shopping.

It’s been three years since the pandemic changed almost everything we knew about retail. As Ulta’s Chief Supply Chain Officer Aimee Bayer-Thomas put it, “The consumer journey is no longer linear.” There are more ways to shop than ever before, but a retail strategy that integrates online and offline shopping to create unique, personal experiences, while a touch balance to achieve, is crucial.

About the author. 
Sam Mani writes about work, creativity, wellness, and equity — when she’s not cooking, binging television, or annoying her cat.